Friday, June 30, 2017

Nigerian Physician assassinates colleague then commits suicide

A fired doctor of family medicine, Dr. Henry Bello shot seven people, killing one, before taking his own life at Bronx-Lebanon Hospital Center Friday afternoon. Bello of Nigerian descent was wielding a rifle and killed a woman, authorities said. Six others were hit, five of them receiving serious wounds, according to authorities. He brought a rifle into the hospital underneath a white lab coat.





Monday, June 26, 2017

5 of Top 10 High Risk Malware Countries are in Africa

Africa features significantly in the latest Global Threat Impact Index released for May 2017 by Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP). Out of the top ten countries, five are African. Zambia has the highest risk profile, with Nigeria in second position. Uganda, Malawi and South African are ranked 7th, 8th and 9th respectively. South Africa, in particular, demonstrated a significant jump in ranking, having moved up from 22nd position since last month.

The Index also revealed that more than one in four organisations globally was affected by the Fireball or WannaCry attacks during May. Two of the top three malware families that impacted networks globally were zero-day, previously unseen attacks. Fireball impacted one in five organisations worldwide, with second-placed RoughTed impacting 16% and third-placed WannaCry affecting nearly 8% of organisations globally. The two malware variants, Fireball and WannaCry, rapidly spread worldwide throughout the month of May.


The most prevalent malware highlight the wide range of attack vectors and targets cyber-criminals are utilising, impacting all stages of the infection chain. Fireball takes over target browsers and turns them into zombies, which it can then use for a wide range of actions including dropping additional malware, or stealing valuable credentials. By contrast, RoughTed is a large-scale malvertising campaign, and WannaCry takes advantage of a Windows SMB exploit called EternalBlue in order to propagate within and between networks. WannaCry was particularly high profile, bringing down a myriad of networks worldwide.

In addition to the top three, there were also other new variants of malware seen within the top ten of the index including Jaff (8th) another form of ransomware, demonstrating how profitable this particular attack vector is proving for malicious parties.

May 2017's Top 3 'Most Wanted' Malware:
*The arrows relate to the change in rank compared to the previous month.

1. Fireball - Browser hijacker that can be turned into a full-functioning malware downloader. It is capable of executing any code on the victim machines, resulting in a wide range of actions from stealing credentials to dropping additional malware.
2. RoughTed - Large-scale malvertising used to deliver various malicious websites and payloads such as scams, adware, exploit kits and ransomware. It can be used to attack any type of platform and operating system, and utilises ad-blocker bypassing and fingerprinting in order to make sure it delivers the most relevant attack.
3. WannaCry - Ransomware that was spread in a large scale attack in May 2017 utilising a Windows SMB exploit called EternalBlue in order to propagate within and between networks.

In mobile malware, Hummingbad returned to the top of the list and was closely followed by Hiddad and Triada:

Top 3 'Most Wanted' mobile malware:
1. Hummingbad - Android malware that establishes a persistent rootkit on the device, installs fraudulent applications, and with slight modifications could enable additional malicious activity such as installing a key-logger, stealing credentials and bypassing encrypted e-mail containers used by enterprises.
2. Hiddad - Android malware which repackages legitimate apps and then releases them to a third-party store. Its main function is displaying ads, however it is also able to gain access to key security details built into the OS, allowing an attacker to obtain sensitive user data.
3. Triada - Modular Backdoor for Android which grants superuser privileges to downloaded malware, as this helps it to get embedded into system processes. Triada has also been seen spoofing URLs loaded in the browser.

"To see so many brand-new malware families among the world's most prevalent cyberattacks this month underlines just how innovative cybercriminals can be, and shows how dangerous it is for organisations to become complacent," commented Rick Rogers, Area Manager for East and West Africa at Check Point Software Technologies. "Organisations need to remember that the financial impact from cyber- attacks goes way beyond the initial incident. Restoring key services and repairing reputational damage can be a very long and expensive process. As such, organisations in every industry sector need a multi-layered approach to their cybersecurity. Our SandBlast™ Zero-Day Protection and Mobile Threat Prevention, for example, protect against the widest range of continually evolving attack types, and also protect against zero-day malware variants."

Check Point's Global Threat Impact Index and its ThreatCloud Map is powered by Check Point's ThreatCloud intelligence, the largest collaborative network to fight cybercrime which delivers threat data and attack trends from a global network of threat sensors. The ThreatCloud database holds over 250 million addresses analysed for bot discovery, more than 11 million malware signatures and over 5.5 million infected websites, and identifies millions of malware types daily.


Check Point's Global Threat Impact Index

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

Tragedy in London as Apartment building is engulfed in Flames

Dozens are feared dead in an overnight blaze at the Grenfell Tower in London. The fire that swept through a 27-storey west London tower block in just 15 minutes after a fridge exploded could be one of the worst in British history amid fears nobody on its top three floors survived.

Six people are known to have died after fire engulfed Grenfell Tower in White City after 1am today but Scotland Yard says the death toll is expected to rise significantly.




Wednesday, June 7, 2017

UNPF boss, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin passes at 68

Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, head of the United Nations Population Fund-UNPF and former Nigeria Minister for Health, died on Sunday night at his home in West Harrison, N.Y. He was 68. The population agency confirmed his death, saying it was sudden, but did not give a cause.

Dr. Osotimehin, had been the executive director of UNPF, the world’s leading provider of family planning services, including contraception, since 2011. He led efforts to advance a 1994 action plan adopted by 179 countries that recognized for the first time that women have the right to control their reproductive and sexual health and to choose whether to become pregnant.


He also advocated family planning services, championed methods to prevent maternal deaths in childbirth and sought to eliminate genital cutting of women and girls. He was once the director general of the National Agency for the Control of AIDS before becoming an undersecretary general with the United Nations. He chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Demographic Dividend, which offers policy advice to lawmakers so they can benefit from the economic growth that comes with a decline in a country’s birth and death rates.

He was also co-chairman of the Family Planning 2020 Reference Group, an international organization that looks to provide family planning services for 120 million more women and girls by the year 2020.

Dr. Osotimehin was born in Nigeria and trained to be a doctor there at the University of Ibadan. He received a doctorate in medicine from the University of Birmingham in England in 1979. He is survived by his wife, Olufunke Osotimehin, five children and several grandchildren.

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Tragic Road Crash claims lives of young Nigerian Mother and Son

It’s not unusual to witness vehicles racing through one of the busiest highways in Texas especially during rush hour on a Monday morning. On the fateful morning of June 5th, the radio transmission was interrupted by an announcement that the highway had been blocked due to a ghastly road crash.

The tragic crash involved a stalled Honda Accord which was brutally rear ended by a truck which unfortunately claimed the lives of a young Nigerian Woman; Adeyinka Aruwajoye, 30, and her 9 month old son who was strapped firmly in his car seat at the back of the car. 

Adeyinka was propelled from the vehicle by the impact and was immediately taken to the Medical City Arlington and was pronounced dead hours later, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office.


Our prayers and condolences go out to the entire family of the deceased. 

source: FOX NEWS DALLAS

Friday, June 2, 2017

Facts about the new Kenya $4 Billion Chinese-Built Railway

1.      1. The $3.8 billion, 298-mile stretch of railway is the work of the China Road and Bridge Corporation, a state-owned enterprise that build on Beijing’s behalf in Africa. The Chinese began building the line in December 2014 and completed the first section, the Nairobi-Mombasa line, 18 months early.

2.     2. The Nairobi-Mombasa line is just the first instalment in the Chinese-funded project to improve rail links in East Africa. The line is planned to extend westward from Kenya and into Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Burundi, and northward into South Sudan and Ethiopia.

3.      3. Before the new railway opened, the quickest way to get from Mombasa to Nairobi without the expense of flying was a grueling nine-hour bus journey; the old railway takes 12 hours to complete the journey. The new standard-gauge railway is predicted to cut that journey time down to four-and-a-half hours. President Kenyatta also ordered the state-owned railway company to charge no more than 700 Kenyan shillings ($6.77) for an economy-class ticket.

4.     4.  Kenyatta announced that the new railway would be named the Madaraka Express. Madaraka, a Swahili word meaning responsibility or power, is also the name of Kenya’s Independence Day, celebrated on June 1 each year.


5.    5.   President Kenyatta has threatened to sign into law the death penalty for anyone guilty of vandalizing the train line. “I want to firmly state today that those who will be prosecuted and found guilty of vandalizing a property belonging to all Kenyans; will face the death penalty.” 




Nigerian in the USA enrolls for PH.D at 18

18-year-old Nigeria native Nkechinyere Chidi-Ogbolu is not your typical teen. Chidi-Ogbolu just graduated summa cum laude from Howard University with a degree in chemical engineering; making her the youngest person to graduate from Howard this year, and one of the youngest in Howard’s history. But that’s not all for Chidi-Ogbolu. She’s now preparing to start a Ph.D. program at the University of California-Davis after the summer ends. She’ll be studying biomedical engineering with a focus on creating and discovering new medicines.

Chidi-Ogbolu said she’s always been the youngest person in her classes. While most students from Nigeria graduate high school at the age of 16, Chidi-Ogbolu finished high school particularly early, at 14, since she skipped 5th grade and attended an accelerated high school. After high school, she left Nigeria for America and enrolled full-time at Howard University, a historically black university and her first-choice school. “I thought I would be more comfortable at the age going to a school with more people that looked like me and therefore I could more easily relate to,” said Chidi-Ogbolu. “Plus, they gave me a full scholarship, so that definitely helped.”
Nkechinyere Chidi-Ogbolu

Leaving her parents in Nigeria was difficult, but Chidi-Ogbolu wasn’t alone. Many of her extended family members live in America, including an aunt who lived not far from her dorm, and other family members in Texas and Alabama. She credited her family’s support for her ability to cope with her new surroundings. With the blessings of her parents, Chidi-Ogbolu spent the summer after her junior year researching African weather patterns with Professor Paul Ullrich at UC-Davis. “While I was there, I decided that grad school was what I wanted to do.”

She started working on her graduate school applications during her senior year. “I can’t say it was stress-free,” she jokes. Her hard work paid off on February 7, when she received her acceptance letter from UC-Davis. “It was definitely a wonderful moment,” she says.

Prasant Mohapatra, UC Davis vice provost of graduate education, and dean of graduate studies, had this to say about Chidi-Ogbolu: “We are delighted to welcome Nkechinyere into the graduate education community at UC Davis. We hope to provide a dynamic educational experience that will deepen and expand her passion for advancing the field of biomedical engineering, and we are truly impressed by her future plans to help people worldwide through scientific research and innovation.”
Chidi-Ogbolu also has some advice for teens her age.

“Don’t limit yourself because you think you can’t do it or because no one you know had done it,” she advises. “You can always be the exception to the rule and end up being exceptional.”

Source: USA TODAY College contributor network.